After completing my mental health registration as a nurse I trained as a behaviour therapist (professional qualification) and received regular supervision from a range of people who were specialist in this area. I became involved in community facing work and engaged in many cognitive behaviour courses but eventually found that family work was to be my passion. I completed the COPE and a post graduate research dissertation (that explored the perceived influence of violent incidents on mental health staff using cognitive type formulations to generate a meaning for them), receiving supervision outside of the university. I developed more of an interest in the use of various research methods to generate information related to practitioners, and engaged in various projects involving practitioners developing skills in research within the practice area. In this field I recieved specific supervision and support from Dr Christopher Wibberley.

Following this I moved more into the practice of family interventions using the Barrowclough and Tarrier model and I practiced family work until only last year (2016) initially as a full-time member of staff (establishing and piloting a project, then leading a team of FI workers) in a Trust (but still receiving individual supervision) and latterly as an honorary member using Falloon’s behavioural family work (receiving group supervision). During these years (around 15 years practicing family work) I also completed a PhD which included a specific chapter aimed at developing a cognitive type supervision approach for therapy staff. All of this influenced my practice and teaching.

Since 2002 I have worked at the University of Salford (part-time until 2010, then full-time) and engaged in teaching both on the undergraduate and post graduate programmes of CBT/ CBP. I have over the time in the university worked with Dr G. Rayner, who mentored and supervised some of my CBT teaching and presented me with the opportunity to attend all the sessions and teach on ones that suited both my research and practice portfolio. For this I developed a range of new modules for the post graduate programme including one of family interventions. During all this I became a Fellow of the HEA and became an external examiner for the CBT post graduate programme at Leeds University. Such work led me to review and reflect on the use of recordings and rating sessions using the CTS-R for my own case work and that of other therapists. I stayed on at Leeds for an extra year past the normal 3 year contract, before once again dedicating more time to my research interests and then taking on the mantel of programme leader for the CBP programme for the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 programmes.

Away from the above, I have over the last 15 years reviewed for a range of professional journals and took on the chairs role on the editorial board for the MHNA journal. I have becom pragmatic in my view toward health care and realistic in what can be achieved in changing health care practice yet still optimistic that positive changes for health care staff and service users will happen in the near future.

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You Tube clip of 3 minute thesis as presented for Health and Environment Schools. This clip won the round for this category. The essence is for the the presentation to be understandable to a 5 year old and use simple Engl... more >>.

Other

2016

Nov

Reviewer for Journal of Mental Health, Training and Practice (United Kingdom, November 2016).

2015

Sep

Reviewer for Journal of Mental Health (United Kingdom, September 2015).